[Release] Warcraft II Widescreen / High resolution patch

[Szwagier]

first of all, screen should no to be big, too see two spot like 4 5, also it will be weird to play 32x32 to see all map

[Player]

I understand both sides and I think they both have valid points. It more just comes down to, what is best for the people/game I would say.

If we think about this from a basic ideology and move towards a more advanced one, these may be some options. (I know nothing about this stuff or if it is even possible but I would like to at least throw out some ideas which could trigger more)


1) Being able to change the resolution on login, while in channel, or ideally in the game lobby would be great (other games can do it while you are online). The redownload part I don't picture people doing to change it back and forth.

2) Can you mandate maps to require certain resolution restrictions. IE- 3+ GOW maps for each mandated resolution or you could get more advanced where you can select 2 of the 3 and then one where you can use any of the 3 options. (not ideal)

3) If you are able to make the resolution change in the lobby, you have a dropdown as to what resolution options you can choose from based on the host's restrictions or even if there are no restrictions.


Maybe there is a middle ground that could be made to please everyone and we can work together as a team.

In my opinion this doesn't really seem like a big deal that needs all this effort to make it "fair". I know it hardly ever happens, but if I lose a game, I can't imagine someone having a slightly larger landscape of the map on their screen being the reason. 

Side note - If I lose, I would definitely accuse people of being resolution hackers for fun.

[fois]

I would do it the following way:

If the overwhelming majority (75% or more) wants the widescreen patch to be available on the main server then we'll allow it without any restrictions but we do what lesnik suggested and add the info on the status page so everyone can see who is using it.

If less than 75% want it then we do what harry suggested and allow the widescreen patch but we'll try to find a way to make sure that only those who are using the patch will be able to play together in the same room OR we allow the host to choose if the patch is allowed in the given game room or not.

If less than 50% want it then there will be no widescreen patch on multiplayer at all.


I think that's fair, otherwise I don't see why we would continue to have any polls here if the results always get ignored because someone who's in the minority is complaining (Which did happen here quite a few times already).
But that's just my opinion though, in the end iL will have the final word on this.

The poll is still running for 4 days, so please promote it in-game and tell everyone about it!

[Harrywangs]

first of all, screen should no to be big, too see two spot like 4 5, also it will be weird to play 32x32 to see all map

What he said. ^^^^^^ I think?


Let's be honest, the polls are pretty useless. Especially in making big decisions. Although, I do enjoy hitting the button. We can't have 14 votes represent 100+ players. I'm not sure how you would get majority of the population to "vote' in a sense, besides maybe verbally. Maybe......

At the end of the day, if the powers that be, whoever they be, decide to do so, then it is what it is as long as I get to say I told you so!!!  I'll do this before EQ does it to me!  Haha <3

[Droid]

We're authoritarian sons of bitches, we don't need 75% majority, just add the feature.
Keep up the good work & thanks a lot FOIS!

[Nox]

first of all, screen should no to be big, too see two spot like 4 5, also it will be weird to play 32x32 to see all map

I'll do this before EQ does it to me!  Haha <3

Like i said, it must be an option in the game itself or during the installation, different resolutions players can choose themself, if it's not, then it's a bad idea.

[KingHillBilly]

Looks awesome. Widescreen view without stretching is long overdue.

As far as gameplay concerns, it may lower the skill gap slightly by giving players more information, the skill ceiling in war2 is so high it matters little.

Watched players video and compared to black bars.. this is a no brainer and should be implemented immediately.

Nice job.

[fois]

I just released a new version, check the first post for the download link. https://forum.war2.ru/index.php?topic=6461.0

Changelog:
Campaign movies are now centered to the screen
Does now work properly with the GOG version
Added a new 800x608 version for those that don't have a widescreen monitor
Improved error logging - Please upload the ".dmp" file from the error folder here in the forums in case the game should crash

[fois]

Is that good enough @Harrywangs ?

You host a game and just add "no-hd" into the game name and they can't join

[Harrywangs]

Damn, nice. It's def cool and what I was envisioning but I think people will need the ability to switch resolutions on the fly or it'll cut the population in half and/or only sg, tk, and me can play together. SG will kill himself.

[maciek]

You host a game and just add "no-hd" into the game name and they can't join

That's stupid idea. Either make it for everyone or not make it at all.

[Player]

You host a game and just add "no-hd" into the game name and they can't join

That's stupid idea. Either make it for everyone or not make it at all.

I don’t think it matters.  This is a cool feature, but doubt it ever gets used since everyone but SG will use the new resolution.

[fois]

Yeah it might not be the best solution, I'm not sure yet if i keep it like this or not. But even if I would change the resolution during runtime (which is not even possible right now) then it wouldn't work either, they would just get mad because they can't play in their chosen resolution.

Then again, as Player said, it doesn't really matter too much because almost no one would use this feature.


I'm still working on updates currently, got the lobby running in fullscreen now, added "Game Capture" support for OBS to make recording/streaming easier with the OpenGL renderer that's used in the patch and fixed some more issues with the GOG version. Will release a version with support for the main server soon, still waiting for Mistral to fix his OBS and other features and lambchops is also working on support for his plugins with the widescreen patch.

[fois]

Does someone here know how to edit the war2 "bmp" format (it's not a real bmp!) and also is good at graphic editing stuff?

Would be nice to have the in-game UI updated to get rid of the black spots. I made the patch load the files directly from the folder, we could either use super big version that fits into any resolution or we can have a separate file for each resolution (e.g. "h_btm.bmp_960x544")

Example for editing the graphics:

960x544 adds 320 width:
the width of x_btm.bmp and x_top.bmp need to be changed from 448 to 768

960x544 adds 64 height:
the height of x_rgt.bmp needs to be changed from 480 to 544.
the height of x_lft2.bmp needs to be changed from 144 to 208. 

[Available]

from 144 to 208

looks easy

I'll try to provide universal solution